Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesperson Shezad Poonawalla on Saturday lashed out at former Bihar deputy chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav for his racist remarks as he called Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma a "Chinese version of Yogi". Questioning Rahul Gandhi's silence over the remarks made by Tejashwi Yadav, who is also part of the opposition's INDIA bloc, Poonawalla asked, "Is this the 'Mohabbat ki dukan' or 'Nafrat ke bhaijaan'?"
Expressing his stand against Assam Assembly's decision to scrap the two-hour Jumma break on Fridays for Muslim MLAs, Tejashwi Yadav made the remark against CM Biswa on Friday, August 30, accusing him of doing it for "cheap popularity" and to "spread hatred". He had also slammed the BJP for scrapping the Jumma break, claiming that the party makes Muslims its "soft target".
These remarks by Yadav drew the ire of the BJP, as Poonawalla accused him of abusing the entire northeast region of India and questioned Rahul Gandhi if this was how Constitution was respected by "attacking an entire state with racist terms".
Poonawalla stated: "A decision was taken today by Assam Assembly Speaker Biswajit ji, who belongs to the tribal community. If you (Tejashwi Yadav) are opposing the decision, you go to the extent of calling him, Assam CM, a 'Chinese' because he is from Northeast. You start abusing the entire Northeast and its people, including those from Assam, just because you disagree with his decision. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi ji, is this the 'Mohabbat ki dukan' or 'Nafrat ki bhaijaan'? Is this 'Samvidhan ka Samman' when you attack an entire state with such racist bigoted terms?"
He further slammed the Congress and the INDIA bloc for not taking a stand against Yadav for his remarks on the Assam CM and suggested that the grand old party has remained silent since it "accepts such language".
"Rahul Gandhi may not be able to say anthing because his uncle Sam Pitroda he himself had said northeast people are Chinese and south people are Africans. Congress party promoted him and got him back as Congress overseas president. This means Congress party accepts such language and therefore they have not taken any stance against Tejashwi Yadav, nor have other INDIA bloc leaders have taken any stance," he added.
Congress Has An Anti-Northeast Mindset, Tejashwi Must Apologise: Poonawalla
The BJP leader also demanded an apology from the RJD leader for making the racist remark against Himanta Biswa. He also accused Congress of having an "anti-northeast mindset" as he sought a response from the opposition alliance regarding the matter.
"Congress party has a whole history of abusing and keeping northeast away from the mainstream when they had cut off Assam from the map of India. The manner in which they had dropped bombs on the state of northeast in 1960-70. This shows their anti-northeast mindset, but today the people of Assam and the people of northeast have been insulted by Tejashwi Yadav. He must not only apologise...INDI alliance must tell us whether they will take a stand against him," Poonawalla stated.
Assam CM Wants To Remain In News: Yadav
Meanwhile, amid the ongoing controversy that was trigerred by his remarks, Tejashwi Yadav reiterated that the Assam CM wants "cheap popularity" and wants to remain in the news. "Assam Chief Minister (Himanta Biswa Sarma) wants cheap popularity and wants to remain in the news...(UP CM) Yogi Adityanath is using bulldozers and he (Assam CM) is stopping namaz, the country belongs to everyone, there should be peace but these people are only spreading hatred," he stated.